bob_sauve28 Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Just for you spelling Nazis on this board who have made my life miserable! :lol: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories The NHL's Jacques Demers was able to win a Stanley Cup but he now admits there has been one skill he was never able to master: how to read. The former Montreal Canadiens coach says in a new biography by sports writer Mario LeClerc that while he can write his name and a few other words, he is functionally illiterate, unable to read most sentences. Now 61, Demers says he first admitted his problem to his wife in 1984, when she complained about always being his secretary. "And I said listen, here it is, here's the story," he remembers. "And first thing I said was well, 'is she going to stay with me?' You know, you don't know. But obviously it worked out." Demers managed to keep his illiteracy a secret from just about everyone else as he built his career in the NHL, fearing that it would damage his career. "There's no way that the National Hockey League would have given me a chance," Demers says. "You're not going to hire someone and say 'He's illiterate and he's going to be a good coach.' It just doesn't work that way." But some admit they had an inkling. CTV Montreal sportscaster Brian Wilde worked with Demers on a show about the Habs and remembers how Demers struggled when asked to write a script. "Jacques fought through it. He tried his best to write it," Wilde recalls. "At one point, he said, 'Well, I have to give up on the writing. I can't do the writing.' And we said, 'Well let's see what you've done so far.' And he said, "Well, I didn't bring it with me'." Demers told CTV's Canada AM that he found ways of covering up his secret.
Eleven Posted March 30, 2009 Report Posted March 30, 2009 Just for you spelling Nazis on this board who have made my life miserable! :lol: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories I've passed this along to a couple of friends who volunteer to teach adults how to read and write. Cool story; thanks for posting it.
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